The Download on Telematics

Telematics is defined as the use of technology that allows construction vehicles to send, receive and store information. This allows contractors to keep close tabs on the productivity, uptime and operating costs of their fleets. It also allows them to monitor machine health to take a proactive approach to maintenance and repair.

Additionally, telematics systems can be used to monitor the movement and location of machines, allowing project managers to keep track of cycle times and shift times. GPS-based systems permit geo-fencing to keep machines operating within a specified area. They can even help with security by locating stolen equipment.

Although such systems have been available for construction equipment since the late 1990s, the industry’s adoption rate has been slow. Perhaps driven by the tight economy and the need to increase efficiency, many contractors are just now beginning to see the value it brings.

As they begin adopting the technology, contractors are looking for systems that are robust and powerful right out of the box. More importantly, they want systems that are intuitive. After all, what good is advanced technology if you don’t have the time to learn to use it? Fortunately, the market is largely satisfying the need for both power and ease of use.

When contractors think of telematics, they often think of it as a way to monitor fleet performance. One of the most common machine performance systems is grade control. These systems are used in the earthmoving industry to reduce labor, material and engineering costs as well as waste. Integrated with motor graders and dozers, these GPS-based systems help contractors and engineers ensure that proper grading results are achieved.

Also available are payload weighing systems that transmit material load information from equipment such as articulated dump trucks and wheel loader buckets. These systems can go beyond the monitoring of productivity to provide overload protection on the jobsite and furnish data to help with future job quoting. Advanced systems include such options as in-cab printers for load tickets and end-of-shift reports.

As telematics systems have become more advanced, they have become capable of providing richer data that allows contractors not only to see what their machines are doing but to monitor the machines’ internal systems. By linking to a machine’s CAN bus or internal control system, telematics systems can transmit data such as fluid levels, pressure, temperatures and fuel use. This allows contractors to ascertain the health of their machines, determine if regular maintenance is being performed and schedule any needed service. This helps prevent repairs, which can lead to unexpected expenses and costly downtime.

Taking it a step further, more sophisticated systems can process data, fluid analysis and machine inspection results with complex rules engines to proactively identify problems, determine their criticality and email corrective action suggestions to the contractor. Others can enable dealers to connect remotely to machines to read diagnostic trouble codes and record machine performance data. Certain actions, such as software updates, can be accomplished remotely.

In addition to monitoring the status, use and health of equipment, telematics systems can be employed to improve the performance of operators, identify training opportunities and optimize employee practices for efficiency.

One way to do this is by monitoring fuel use. For example, a contractor might notice that one operator uses significantly more fuel than another on the same type of machine and for the same job. With this information, a project manager can know to analyze the operator’s practices to determine the source of the inefficiency.

As the use of telematics becomes more prevalent in the construction industry, its applications will become increasingly diverse, and the technology will continue to become more sophisticated. It will also permit machine-to-machine communication, allowing for coordination of multiple pieces of equipment on a jobsite.

While telematics systems do represent an added monthly or yearly cost to the machine, they often show their value quickly, paying for themselves by preventing even a single repair or a day’s worth of downtime.

A common misconception is that telematics is meant only for contractors with large fleets. While it is true that the benefits of telematics are compounded across multiple pieces of equipment, these systems can also be a huge benefit to smaller contractors. When a small-fleet company loses a machine for a day due to repair, it’s arguably a bigger problem than it would be for a larger company because that one machine represents a greater portion of that contractor’s output. During a tight economy, when profit margins are razor-thin, contractors need any advantage to prevent downtime, increase productivity and lower costs.